NEW YORK - The difference between this summer and other offseasons for the New York Rangers is the type of free agent.

The Rangers did not just throw money at players who have succeeded elsewhere with hopes that chemistry would develop. Rather, they identified what they needed and who would fit into a team that was among the best over the final two months of the 2006-07 regular season.

On July 1, they found them.  Just hours after the free-agent signing period began, the Rangers inked Scott Gomez and Chris Drury, a pair of experienced centers who had succeeded with New Jersey and Buffalo, the teams which have ended the last two seasons for the Rangers - respectively.

The Rangers never expected to get both players.  But when the salary cap was increased by $6.3 million to $50.3 million, there suddenly was more room to sign two playoff-tested No. 1 centers.

Gomez signed a seven-year deal worth $51.5 million, while Drury inked a five-year contract for $35.25 million.  The totals may be big, but these days, the Rangers are not in the business of throwing money at just any big name - a method they consistently employed for seven straight non-playoff seasons.

“You can go and get the sexy free agent or you can go and get the right one,” New York coach Tom Renney said as his team opened training camp.  “It’s no different than how our guys have scouted the last seven, eight years.  We look for Rangers.  We identify with what we thought would take to win here and what this team and this city required in order to be champions.”

The track records of Gomez and Drury seem to meet those requirements.

Both have captured Stanley Cups and been on teams that consistently have won.  Winning is something the Rangers have learned to do only in the last two years, and Gomez is determined to keep that trend going, even if it means sacrificing personal statistics.

Gomez scored 116 goals in seven seasons with the Devils, reaching a career high of 33 in 2005-06.  He netted just 13 tallies last campaign and could remain close to that figure, especially if his linemate is captain Jaromir Jagr.

“I think that’s one of the main reasons why I wanted to come and be a part of that,” Gomez said.  “You can just tell right from the get-go, if we don’t win a Stanley Cup, it’s not a successful year.  I think that’s the attitude everyone’s got and I think the expectations are high, and they should be.

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“Anything else but a Stanley cup this year and we didn’t do our job.  When you got everyone feeling that way and thinking that way, you’re going in the right direction.”

On paper, the additions raise the team’s expectations.  But the Rangers know from experience that a game is won on the ice with chemistry that is cultivated in practices and the locker room.

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Jagr already has talented teammates in Martin Straka and Brendan Shanahan, but the 35-year-old is cautious about the hype surrounding the acquisitions of Gomez and Drury.

“We just have to wait and see because the names are not going to do it if we don’t play the way we should play,” Jagr said. “There’s a lot of pressure on everybody, the whole organization. I think (general manager Glen Sather) did a great job of getting the players we needed.  Now, it’s up to the players how we’re going to play.”

That is because the signings of Drury and Gomez hardly remind anyone of the deals given to the likes of Theo Fleury, Valeri Kamensky and defenseman Sylvain Lefebvre, all who were considered busts in New York.

Those moves were desperate attempts to improve.  The ones involving Drury and Gomez are the complete opposite.

Signing Gomez and Drury are moves that are expected to further build upon last season, which ended on May 6 with a 5-4 loss to the Buffalo Sabres in Game Six of the Eastern Conference semifinals.  That represented the first time a season ended at Madison Square Garden in May since 1996-97, when an aging Rangers team lost to the Philadelphia Flyers in the conference finals.